Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
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Our annual Spring Assembly will be May 17, 2025, by Zoom, with theme “Strengthening Our Nonviolent Movement in This Time of Chaos.” Please see our event page https://wwfor.org/spring-assembly-2025/. Everyone is welcome to attend. Registration is now open at https://wwfor2025sa.brownpapertickets.com/.
A pdf version of our latest Events, Actions, & Hope email sent May 11, 2025, can be viewed or downloaded here. We welcome suggestions and event info from our members and friends at wwfor@wwfor.org
Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship (MYPF) applications for our youth training and mentorship program’s 2025-26 cohort are open through June 1, 2025. See our MYPF pages or view/download a 2-page informational flyer.
Our new newsletter is out! Go to https://wwfor.org/march-2025-issue-of-newsletter-now-posted/ for a link to the pdf version of the 12-page March 2025 issue plus links to the individual articles.
A recording of our March 9, 2025, program about Nuclear Weapons is available here. The program was interesting, lively and informative! Our speakers Joanne Dufour, Sean Arent, and Mark Fleming did a great job telling us about local abolition work, the recent UN conference about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and the upcoming conference about nuclear weapons April 11-12 in Seattle.
We were sad to hear that former WWFOR organizer Nan McMurry has died. Read more here.
Read The January 2025 issue of our Pacific Call newsletter. This link takes you to our newsletter page where you can access the pdf version of the illustrated newsletter or individual articles including past issues & articles.
We are happy that the recording of our Fall Conference “Maintaining Hope in the Face of Trauma” (Nov. 23, 2024, by Zoom), is now available at https://youtu.be/paMrboHoCFU?si=kfK0G_e9_K9PyNY0. The recording starts with keynote speakers Cindy and Craig Corrie, of the Rachel Corrie Foundation on “Working for Justice, Searching for Peace: Israeli and Palestinian Peacemakers.” and continues with Q&A, talks by 7 of the Mike Yarrow Peace Fellows, and an open discussion period. There are more details at our Fall Conference webpage. See also Resources for 2024 WWFOR Fall Conference.
The Nov. 3, 2024, conference: “Emergency Call to Action of the Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine Coalition” was co-sponsored by our national organization FOR-USA and international FOR. Numerous speakers reminded us that we would have to work hard to end US Arms to Israel, regardless of the election outcome. World Beyond War has posted recordings of the conference at https://worldbeyondwar.org/video-stop-the-genocide/ and you can listen in the original languages or in simultaneously translated to English, Spanish, or Arabic.
We thank Jiva Manske, a trainer with HOPE-PV (Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence), a collective of people committed to increasing our democracy, for his presentation October 20, 2024. The topic couldn’t be more timely as we consider the upcoming election and possible aftermath. The Zoom presentation was recorded and can now be viewed here.
We thank Twila Slind, Organizer with Legal Rights for the Salish Sea (LRSS), for her September 15, 2024, presentation on the Inherent Rights of the Southern Resident Orcas, sponsored by Tacoma, Olympia, and Seattle FOR Chapters. The program was recorded and can now be seen at https://youtu.be/L0VZIqI-Jro
International FOR and FOR-USA were among the sponsors of a conference October 19, 2024, “Implementation of International Law to Stop the Genocide.” It can be viewed at https://worldbeyondwar.org/implementation. It includes heart-wrenching accounts of the devastation in Gaza, a long list of United Nations and International Court of Justice decisions that are not being implemented. Perhaps the most important 3 words of this 90 minute conference were “Stop Arming Israel.” See the Nov 3 item on our events calendar for a follow-up conference.
New issue of our Pacific Call newsletter! Click here for a pdf version . Or go to the newsletter page for links to individual articles as well as the full September issue here.
Many of our members were privileged to take part in events with the Golden Rule Peace Sailing Ship (see photo below) during their visit to the Pacific Northwest in August. This was also a month for numerous events commemorating the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings of 1945, and educational and protest events calling for abolition of nuclear weapons. Of course, we continued opposing US “conventional weapons” shipments to warzones.
We thank the activists from the Veterans for Peace Golden Rule project for their presentation July 20, 2024, which you can now view here. The peace ship Golden Rule sails to educate and advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons. We heard about the history of this peace sailing ship from Helen Jaccard, co-manager of the Project, and from Michelle Marsonette who was a crew member on the 30-day voyage from Hawaii to California. Also presenting was Shik-Cho Kim, who sailed on another peace ship, Jonah’s Whale, from her native Korea to Japan and Taiwan protesting US military presence in Asia.
A Seattle Peace Activist and Her Adopted Gazan Family. D’vorah Kost spoke at our June 23, 2024, program sponsored by Tacoma, Olympia, and Seattle FOR chapters. This Jewish peace activist from Seattle was warmly embraced by Gazans in previous trips to Palestine, before the current war. D’vorah has now helped her friends and other Gazan families escape to exile in Egypt. Although they have lived through the trauma of war, they still hope to return to a peaceful Gaza. Read about D’vorah’s activism and adopted family in an article she wrote for the FOR-USA newsletter at https://docs.google.com/document/d/18pIRt2fJ6emh5YjjgLe1ZH9sw8nyk_4p/edit.
The latest issue of our newsletter the Pacific Call is now available. Click here to go to our newsletter page with more recent articles as well as older ones or click here to go to the pdf version of the June 2024 issue.
Mike Yarrow, wearing hat, in the center of the photo, with a group of PATs, smiling with relief and pride after each gave an excellent soapbox speech in a public park! The Peace Activist Trainee (PAT) program was the predecessor to the current MYPF internship program now interviewing applicants for the 2024-2025 fellows.
A recording of presentations by some of the 2023-2024 MYPF youth activists from our May 18, 2024, Spring Assembly is posted here.
Dozens of FOR members and friends participated in our May 18, 2024, Spring Assembly with Keynote speaker Kathy Kelly! See our information page for the event description. and a video of Kathy’s presentation “Ring the Bells that Still Can Ring: Movements, Worldwide, to End the Scourge of War”.
[photo of Kathy by Abdulhai Darya]
Carolyn Barclift gave an interesting and useful talk based on David Peppers book “Saving Democracy: A User’s Manual for Every American” on April 21, 2024, and she has graciously provided a link to her slides. Click here . The program recording is here.
The recording of our March 17, 2024, program with Kathy Railsback is now available at https://youtu.be/CkZdoqrynB8. Kathy has been a volunteer working with refugees for decades, starting in the aftermath of the US-Vietnam War with Southeast Asian refugees. In this fascinating recording, you can watch Kathy speak about her work on Trauma Education with South Sudanese Refugees in East Africa, and see lots of photos from the workshops she co-facilitated as well as the surrounding area.
The latest issue of our newsletter the Pacific Call is now available. Click here to go to our newsletter page with more recent articles as well as older ones or click here to go to the pdf version of the March 2024 issue.
WWFOR is a Mobilizing Partner of the Washington State Poor People’s Campaign (PPC), and we support the March 2 PPC Assembly at the state capitol in Olympia. Click here to view or download the WA PPC flyer for this event. It contains a QR code for easy access to RSVP.
We thank Nikhil and MB for their presentation about their work with Resist US Led War on Jan 21, 2024. You can see a recording of most of the program and discussion here. For info about the organization click here
The latest issue of our newsletter the Pacific Call is now available. Click here to go to our newsletter page with more recent articles as well as older ones or click here to go to the pdf version of the January 2024 issue.
WWFOR recently signed the “Joint Interfaith Statement to the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” Click here to read the statement.
Click here to see our annual fundraising letter, emailed 11/17/23. Thank you for considering a donation!
Our annual Fall Retreat “The Human Right to a Livable and Just World.” was held by Zoom Saturday November 11, 2023, 9 am – 12:30 pm. Click here for more info.
We thank Nadine Hoover for her presentation “Decolonizing Friends Peace Teams, an Actively Anti-Racist Faith Community” on Oct. 15, 2023. If you missed it or would like to see it again, click here.
We thank Veterans for Peace for their Sept 17, 2023, presentation on Climate and Militarism. Click here for a brief report and resources.
The latest issue of our newsletter the Pacific Call is now available. Click here to go to our newsletter page with more recent articles as well as older ones or click here to go to the pdf version of the September 2023 issue.
Twenty-two Youth Aged 14 to 23 have begun their Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowships for the 2023-2024 contingent!
The new MYPF fellows had Intensive Training via Zoom July 10-14, 2023, and they are now working on year-long projects.
Meet the 2023 MYPF
We thank the Olympia FOR chapter for supporting the Mike Yarrow Peace Fellows Youth Activist Program by organizing a live concert and we thank the performers: folksingers, storytellers, and activists Tom Rawson and Ellen van der Hoeven who gave everyone a great time on May 19. 2023.
SELECT RECORDINGS are now available from our May 6, 2023, Spring Assembly at https://wwfor.org/spring-assembly-2023/. Our keynoter was Helena Cobban, two local activists led workshops, and we heard from youth activists in our Mike Yarrow Peace Fellowship program. Music was provided by Tom Rawson.
The March 2023 issue (version 2, updated) of our quarterly newsletter, Pacific Call, is now available. Click here for the pdf version to read online or download. Click here for the newsletter page with many individual articles and links to earlier issues.
2022 FALL RETREAT!
Dozens of people joined WWFOR on Saturday, Nov 19, 2022. Our theme was “Intergenerational Voices for Economic Justice and Peace.” More info about our presenters and their topics is at our Fall Retreat page. Also, see that page for links to video recordings from our wonderful event!
SPRING ASSEMBLY 2022 was on SATURDAY APRIL 30. The theme was “Defending and Extending Democracy Using Nonviolence.” A description of the event and resource list relating to the presentations is available here.
An enthusiastic crowd came together on Dec 12, 2021, in a fundraising concert organized by our Tacoma Chapter. Folksinger Tom Rawson returned to help raise much needed funds for our Afghan Friends. Click here to read all about it.
Many thanks to Tom and his partner Ellen for a great time, with meaningful songs and some that were lighthearted fun. Over the years, Tom has generously offered his singing and song-leading for WWFOR and several of our chapters, as well as being the song leader at our Northwest regional conferences at Seabeck. See https://www.tomrawson.com/ for more about Tom and his music.
2021 WWFOR Fall Retreat was held on Nov. 13.
Bridging Our Differences. Civility First …. So We Can Work Together
Click here to see what happened there.
WWFOR & BRAVER ANGELS PRESENTED A DEPOLARIZING WITHIN WORKSHOP Online Saturday July 17, 2021, on Zoom. This free Workshop was designed to foster skills to lessen the effects of polarization when encountered in political conversations. Click here to read a report about this workshop
Working for Racial Justice
Fellowship of Reconciliation has a long history of working for racial justice. Many civil rights activists were (or still are) members of FOR including Bayard Rustin, Martin Luther King Jr., and James Lawson. Locally we have worked for police accountability, economic justice, health care for all, and resolved to be anti-racism activists.
We are happy to see a racial justice awakening, especially among white people who have been in denial. We have never been in a “post-racial” society. We are grateful to the Black Lives Matter activists who are leading the way to a more just country. Let’s acknowledge our country’s shameful past and work to make a difference here and now! Several members of WWFOR’s Regional Council (our decision making body) have gotten together to work on racial justice; this group has compiled some useful resources. Click below for resources.
Resources for Racial Justice
Seeking to replace war, racism, and economic injustice with nonviolence, equality, peace and justice.
Since 1915, the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) has carried on programs and educational projects concerning domestic and international peace and justice, nonviolent alternatives to conflict, and the rights of conscience.